Meats and Beats

Leaving the cold at the door, we entered Summarhall excited and hungry for the long anticipated Meats and Beats festival; food stalls were downstairs in the courtyard, animated groups of hungry patrons queing, eating and drinking, the bars and the fabulous tunes were upstairs warming up for a long fun-filled night of dancing.

Of course it was a paolozzi to begin, a firm favourite of mine and the cold crisp beer was a great accompaniment to the first delicious dish. The Shanty Town has become a new addition to my favourites; unfortunately for me they are based in Newcastle but they would be worth the trip as their skills with steak just about made my wee mind implode.

After pining for everything on their menus i went for their steak po’boy and boy oh boy i was not disappointed. Just watching the guys at work is a fun experience; steaks sizzle until they are chosen, effortsly cut and drizzled with butter the meat looked perfectly pink and juicy.

Piled onto a lightly toasted baguette with creamy crunchy slaw, pickles and some of their delicious sauce the tender steak melted in your mouth, doing well to hush me up for 5 minutes.

The second delicacy came from old faithful Ròst; these guys kill it at The Pitt with their halloumi fries but it was their adventurous meat menu that intrigued me; venison, pheasant, ribs, there was something different and exciting for everyone.

I greedily opted for their fried pheasant burger with crunchy peanut butter; wrapped in a glossy bun, the rich crispy burger nestled happily against the sweet creamy peanut butter and salty bacon with a handful of golden crisps to give an extra crunch with every bite.

Curious by the ‘meaty’ cocktails upstairs we tried a lethal absinthe concoction that woke me up from my foodie fullnes. We then gravitated towards Tasty Buns Bakery where their stand proudly presented dozens of sweet treats, of course i had to try as many as i could.

Their sweet scotch egg was my favourite; biscoff spread centre surround by gooey white chocolate ganache and coated in chocolate brownie and biscoff crumbs, this alone was enough for me to suss out where they are based to stock up (bread street if you’re wondering). Their Tunnocks caramel wafer brownie was the perfect mix of squidgy brownie and crunchy wafer and the peanut butter caramel cookie sandwhiches were develishly good.

After faces were sufficiently stuffed and tummy’s full we waddled out happy, satisfied and buzzing off the atmosphere of the night; the guys who organise Meats and Beats have hit the nail on the head combining all my favourites thing into one wonderful evening. I will definitely be keeping a look out for their next pop up, wherever that may be.